"Gone Home"/"What Remains of Edith Finch" Comparison

Which one did you enjoy more?

   - I enjoyed "What Remains of Edith Finch" more than I did "Gone Home".

 Which one is better at telling a story?

   - In my opinion, both games delivered a great story, but "What Remains of Edith Finch" was better.

 In the end, is the game play or the story that stands out more and why?

   - The game play in "What Remains of Edith Finch" stands out more than the story because the game play significantly enhances the story. The way the story was wrapped in the game play turned this game from being just a good game into a great game. There were multiple instances in which the game play complimented the narration of the story which I'll discuss in the following question. This really resonated with me because I love games that are able to combine the art of story-telling with effective game play since it creates an amazing presentation.

   - As for "Gone Home", the story definitely stood out more than the game play being that the game play was pretty standard. For me, there weren't any surprises or unexpected elements within the game play of "Gone Home" that I'm not used to seeing from other video games.

What is highlight from each?

   - In the aforementioned question, I spoke about the way the game play complimented the narration of the story in "What Remains of Edith Finch". This element of the game was certainly the highlight for me. In every "Finch" story, there was a way for the player to directly play through the eyes of that individual member of the Finch family, and experience the story of their unfortunate demise. I was particularly attached to the stories of Milton Finch, Gregory Finch, and Lewis Finch. These three stories did an awesome job of illustrating how game play can enhance the power of story-telling.

   - Although the game play was pretty ordinary, I very much enjoyed the concept of the story of "Gone Home" and the way the story was narrated. For example, the narration of the story really makes me sympathize with the narrator (Sam) as she was describing her issues with accepting her sexuality, dealing with her unaccepting parents, and the relationship she had with Lonnie. Additionally, the end of the game really brings everything together from the title screen all the way through to the end of the game because I was able to have that "aha" moment at the end of the game when the title of the game was displayed at the beginning of the end credits and I finally understood what "Gone Home" represented.

How could one benefit from the mechanics of the other?

   - I think "Gone Home" could certainly benefit from adding some game play elements from "What Remains of Edith Finch" such as the on-screen narration interacting with the player or finding a way to implement flashbacks into the game so the player can directly see the experiences Sam was having while her sister was gone abroad. "What Remains of Edith Finch" didn’t do much wrong in my opinion, but I found myself being slightly more attached to the story in "Gone Home" and it may have been because of the fact that I wanted Sam's story to have a happy ending. I wanted there to be happiness at the end of "What Remains of Edith Finch" as well, but the ending was more bitter sweet for me and I felt like no matter how much I wanted the story for their family to have a happy ending, death was going to find them sooner rather than later which was disheartening. Even though Sam was gone when her sister came home, I was able to find solace knowing that she was happy. So this isn't necessarily an issue with "What Remains of Edith Finch", in fact, it's more like the story in "What Remains of Edith Finch" is so good since it’s able to leaves players with the type of feelings that I'm expressing.